Pro-verbs

Don’t confuse pro-verbs with proverbs, which are popular sayings about universal truths. A pro-verb is like a pronoun, but unlike a pronoun that substitutes a person, place or thing, a pro-verb substitutes an action.

In its most common form, a pro-verb is an auxiliary verb in a short answer. Do they like their jobs? Yes, they do.

Instead of: Yes, they like their jobs.

In this case we use the auxiliary verb to substitute the verb and compliment.

It’s common to an auxiliary verb as a pro-verb in reported speech:

Does he want to come? He said he did.

Will they pick us up? They told me they would.

And after the verbs like believe, expect, hope, know and think.

I don’t know if they can come. I hope they can.

In the same way, we often use the so as a pro-verb.

I told you it would work! I told you so!

You don’t have to wash the dishes. Okay, if you say so!

Are you going away for vacation? I hope so. Or: I don’t think so.

But for a negative desire, after hope, you can simply answer with not. My aunt might come over for lunch. I hope not.

After verbs that are followed by a to-infinitive, we can simply use the preposition: My girlfriend wants to go out tonight, but I don’t want to. Instead of: My girlfriend wants to go out tonight, but I don’t want to go out tonight.

And sometimes, you can even use the phrase to do so to talk about carrying out an action:

Anyone can learn English. But to do so, you have to be persevering!